Pirate in the City
by Hollybaby390
Summary: An ophaned noble girl grows up as a pirate, but when she wants to know more about her family, she decides to go to Tortall to become a knight! It's good, I promise!
1. Pirate in the City

Pirate in the City

Disclaimer: I do not own anything of Tamora Peirce's. I just think she is a talented writer. So, most characters and ideas are hers, but quite a few characters are mine! Woo hoo! Okay, here's the story.

"Peter!" the twelve-year girl shouted. "Come down here now! We have to talk!"

Peter sighed. He wasonly a 13-year oldboy that wanted to do his job and not make anybody mad. But it looked like he was going to have to get in the way of quite a few people to get down from the Crows Nest, to the main deck of the ship 'Ladies Luck.' As he swung down the ropes, he wondered, 'Why is she acting this way? It's bull, we get engaged and she suddenly flips out like I'm going to disappear. Why choose to act this way after 8 years?

In a matter of two minutes, he had past a portentous black flag with an intimidating scull and crossbones on it. He stood tall in front of Elizabeth's thin frame. Peter studied her. Her dark brown hair was loosely tied back with little wisps flying about in the wind. Her wide eyes were looking up at him.

Every time he saw those eyes he was reminded of the day they first met. She was only four, but her eyes, green with a clear ring of blue, had popped out. Now, they were even more stunning.

Elizabeth looked like she was about to speak. Then, changing her mind, she glanced around and pulled Peter into a little-used nook, which was out of the way and would be almost impossible for anyone to overhear their conversation. He smiled at her dominant behavior. She could be really strong when she wanted something. Finally, she talked.

"Peter, I've been thinking lately." The statement was met with silence. Then Peter couldn't help but say, "You can think?" Elizabeth stopped and gave him the look. He raised his arms in surrender. "Okay, okay, I'll be good. What have you been thinking about?" Elizabeth studied him. Then she let out a little breath. "Okay, only promise you won't laugh at me." "And why would I do that?" Peter started to think that this isn't just some random thing, she really had thought about this. So he made himself buckle down and really listen. "Okay, I won't laugh, just tell me what's going on. I'll listen." Elizabeth smiled then dove right into it.

"Well, you know how we decided to wait till I'm 18 to get married, right?" Peter nodded. "Right, well, I realized that I don't really know who I am." Peter opened his mouth to protest. Elizabeth cut him off. "Let me finish, okay? It's true, I don't really know who I am. You know me as Liz. Pirates know me as bloody Elizabeth, and if I'm lucky, regular people know me as Peter the Terrible's girlfriend. I've even heard Peter's terrible girlfriend once." At that, Peter burst out laughing. After seeing Elizabeth's face, he tried to cut off his laughter, but had to say something. "I'm sorry, but that was pretty funny. Especially when you kicked him in the nuts. I don't think that he'll forget your name after that." He gave one last chuckle, then settled down and motioned for Elizabeth to continue. After a moment, she did. "Look, it's not that I have to have people know my name or anything I just… I never really knew my family. Okay? I'm sure you remember what happened. They were killed. All I know is from what your father told me. And stuff from my locket, but I have no idea of my history, my ancestors, even my old home. I follow though on what I hope to do, I can find out. And I can marry you without wondering who I was or anything like that. I just have to go!" Elizabeth looked pleadingly at Peter. "Um, it all sounds fine, but what is it, exactly, that you want to do?" Peter asked. Elizabeth blinked. "Oh! I'm sorry!" She gave a sigh. "I want to go to Tortall. Everything is happening there. Prince Roald is finally getting married to that Yamani princess, Shinkokami, Both of the Lady Knights are going to be there, and so I might actually be able to see them, and I hear the shopping's quite good, and…" "Okay, hold up. Elizabeth, you're avoiding something. Why else would you have brought up the date of when we're getting married?" Elizabeth licked her lips. Peter felt exasperated. "Just spit it out, girl! Come on, we've known each other for years, why are you keeping secrets now?" Elizabeth looked chastised. "Peter, I don't know exactly how you'll take this, but… I want to become the next female knight." Peter's jaw dropped.


	2. Trouble in the Palace?

Trouble in the palace?

Disclaimer: I don't own any of Tamora Pierce's characters or ideas. Just what was floating in my head.

Warning: This chapter is a conversation between Prince Roald and Princess Shinkokami. I will try to make this long but interesting. Soooooooo, here it goes!

"What! You invited my mother?" The normally emotionless Yamani Princess Shinkokami exclaimed.

"Well, yeah. She is your mother. I thought you would want her to be at our wedding." Prince Roald looked at his wife-to-be worriedly. He had never seen her like this. Ever.

"If she was a normal mother, yes! Of course I would. But my mother? No! She's crazy, not to mention that she hates me. Knowing her, she'll try something bad at the last moment, and we'll have to postpone the wedding, again. I don't want that to happen, Roald."

"It won't, okay? We'll have people watching her every move, will that work?" He said, trying to reassure her. Resigned, she nodded her head, but then said,

"Fine, but now I have to go tell Yuki and Kel. Don't be surprised if one of them tries to hit you over the head or something." Roald laughed.

"Why would they do that?" he asked.

"Because they both once got on the bad side of my mother."

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While Shinkokami walked down to the courtyard where she knew Kel and Yuki would most likely be, she wondered what would happen when her mother got here. As she pondered, Kel and Yuki were right where Shinkokami thought they would be. But they weren't alone.

"Come on, Kel! Fight me! Or are you afraid you'll get whipped?" Sir Alanna, the first female knight in centuries, taunted the second female knight.

"No way! But I am afraid that you are getting to old to put up a good fight." A smiling Kel retorted.

"What! Did you just call me old?" Alanna looked shocked. There was laughter all around her.

"I believe she did, but don't worry, you look like a vision of loveliness to me." The ever-flirting Domitan of Masbolle said.

"Meathead, hit your cousin for me, please." Alanna said, referring to her former squire, Neal. He and shook his head, indicating that he was quite happy to stay right next to his finance. For Yuki had him in a quite comfortable hug.

"Oh, whatever. Let's fight. We're not getting anything done." Kel said grumpily. Neal and Yuki looked knowingly at each other. But Alanna nodded her agreement and the two moved to fight. They had just started to really show what they were capable of when Shinkokami got there. Neal, Yuki and Dom all said hello, but only looked away from the fight for a second. Shinkokami considered for a little bit on whether to let the fight continue or to just get the horrible news over with. Finally she decided they should know as soon as possible. So she stepped up to the edge of the place the two women were fighting in and said in a loud voice,

"Hey! You two! You have to stop now. You can fight later." Kel and Alanna continued fighting, oblivious. Neal spoke up.

"Why to want them to stop? They're only getting started. Let them finish." Shinko replied,

"I have to tell Kel some news. It's really important. And Yuki, you need to know too." Neal started to say they could hear it later, but Yuki, seeing Shinko's face elbowed him. So Shinko turned back to the fight and continued to try to get their attention. After a few minutes they slowed down and came to a stop. Breathing hard, both women looked at the gorgeous princess and asked, "What?" Shinko looked uncomfortable. She glanced around.

"Yuki, Kel, I need to talk to you two alone, please." At this everyone else groaned.

"Oh, come on. Why can't we hear it too?" Dom asked. Kel nodded her agreement.

"Yeah. What could it hurt?" Shinko's shoulders slumped.

"All right, fine." She then continued in Yamani. "My mother's coming to the wedding. She'll be here in a few days. I just found out and I don't know what to do. We'll probably be fine with her for the first day or so, you know she can't stand long trips, but after that…" Shinko finished, looking up at both Yuki and Kel. Both had gone pale when they heard the news, but while Yuki's face was not showing any emotion. The others, looking at Kel's face decided that they had to ask.

"Kel, what's going on? Why do you look like that?" Neal asked. Kel shook her head. Dom walked closer to her.

"Kel?" Dom looked at her. "Tell me, okay? Please."

"Look you guys. It's really not that important. It's just… someone from the Islands is coming. And she's…well…"

"The most cold-hearted, evil, sniveling, Hooker on the planet!" Yuki said, breaking in on Kel. Everyone one looked at her in surprise. Then Yuki said to Shinko.

"No offense, of course."

"None taken. That's actually the best description I've ever heard." Shinko replied. Everyone else just looked even more confused.

Finally Alanna spoke up.

"Okay, tell us now, what is going on?" Her famous temper was visibly flaming up. Shinko sighed.

"Fine. My mother is coming to the wedding."

"Um, isn't that a good thing?" Neal asked.

"Not when the mother coming is my mother. She's a monster. And that's all you need know." Shinko turned to walk back to the palace. Kel and Yuki looked at each other a both said, "Shinko! Wait!" They walked after her. Kel looked back.

"Guys, I know you are all very confused right now, and I don't blame you but, we have to figure out how we are going to keep everyone safe and out of the way. This is going to require a lot of thinking so, don't bother us, okay? Okay." Kel turned back around and caught up with Shinko and Yuki.


	3. Settling In

Settling In.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of Tamora Pierce's characters.

Author's note: Thank you my first reviewer! To: Widace Keladry 2005

Elizabeth took a deep breath. She was seated on a gorgeous deep black horse that tossed her head at the sight of the intimidating palace. Elizabeth smiled. "Of course you would treat it as just another stable for you, you silly horse. But this is where I'm going to live for four years. To me, it's very impressive." The horse leaned her head back and rolled her eyes. Elizabeth burst out laughing and decided she felt better about the palace. With one last look at the way she had come, Elizabeth squared her shoulders and entered the walls of the palace.

Later 

"Who are you again?" the reining training master, a HaMinch, glared at her. Elizabeth sighed.

"My name is Mary of Ewinern. You've heard of Ewinern… Right?" She looked at the master, studying him. He blushed, thinking about Ewinern.

"I'm sorry, it's just… I didn't think anyone survived. Where were you all those years?"

"I told you, I was with a friend, and I did survive, but if you don't believe those papers saying I survived it, we could always have someone do a blood check."

"No, I can see that your from Ewinern, you look a lot like your mother, it's just, I didn't know they had a daughter named Mary." "Elizabeth froze. While she really was from Ewinern, she felt it was better to change her name, just in case anyone would be able to piece it together. These days, everyone knew of Peter.

"Well, they did. Is there a problem with my name?" "No, of course not. Um, Tomin!" He broke off, snapping his head towards the servant at the door. "Yes sir?" the servant inquired, walking closer. "Take Miss Mary of Ewinern to her room. Have Salma give her the new uniform and tell her the rules." He turned back to Elizabeth, "Good luck." As Tomin lead her out, Elizabeth thought about the next four years. 'I hope all the other people in here are not like him. That would be too depressing.' Soon she was led to a long hallway, with all the same doors, with names on them. Right as they reached an unmarked door, a small woman with dark hair and a nice smile walked up opposite them. She look at Elizabeth, then introduced herself. "Hi, I'm Salma. You're the new girl right?" Elizabeth smiled and nodded. "Hi, I'm Mary. Is this my room?" Elizabeth gestured toward the unmarked door. Salma nodded. "Sweet." Salma chuckled. "Anyway, here's your key, I'll show you how to open up, and once we go inside I'll go over some ground rules." "Okay, sounds good to me." Salma put the key in the lock, leaned down and whispered Mary's name. The door unlocked. Salma turned back to 'Mary' and explained how everything worked as they walked in. Mary nodded her understanding. Then Salma added, "And this will be the bell toll, the bane of your existence." A great big sound rolled though the palace. Mary winced; it was louder then the alarm on ladies' luck.

"Okay, you have a five minute warning, then the training master should be down to assign sponsors. While you're at dinner I will have your room all ready for you and your suitcases unpacked. Once you come back, you will have two hours free time, most use it to get their rooms in order."

"Wow, it seems like this palace has a smooth system. Anyway. I'm going to change. I can't make a good impression in these travel clothes."

"You want to make a good impression? Why?" Salma asked as she started to walk out. "Well, I want to meet everyone. Besides, one of the guys might be related to someone important. How would it look on me if someone said I had horrible taste?" Mary said, looking down at her clothes. "So you're not looking for a husband?" Salma couldn't resist asking. Mary laughed. "What? No, actually, I'm already engaged, and I don't want to mess it up. And he trusts me enough to be fine with me here." Salma nodded, said goodbye and left. Mary turned around and changed. She got outside just in time. Because coming down the hall, was the man she had met earlier, with a lot of boys behind him. To the right of her, were five other boys, who all looked really nervous. The training master stopped by each one, and that boy would soon join the gaggle of boys, and they would continue on their way. Finally they got to Mary.

"Hello, Mary of Ewinern. Welcome to the palace." The training master droned.

Mary gave a little curtsy. The boys chattered behind him. Then the dreaded question came.

"Who will sponsor Mary?" For a long time no one spoke. Then a average boy in the middle went forward. "I will," he said. The training master nodded and spoke. "Very well, Daniel of Bradson." Mary took her cue and joined the group. But when she did, all near to her except Daniel moved slightly away. 'What, do I have cooties or something?" Mary wondered. The group walked down a flight of stairs and went into the dining room. Diner passed without incident and soon it was over, and there was free time.


	4. Old Friends

Old Friends

Disclaimer: I do not own any of Tamora Pierce's characters

_And here's a warning. I will be switching Elizabeth's name back in forth. Sometimes it's just easier to call her Mary. So you could see something like… Elizabeth said, "Hi, I'm Mary. Or, Mary said, "Hi, I'm Mary. It might sound confusion but it's really not. Yeah._

Thanks to my second reviewer: Chavvi Westwind

The first day was very uneventful. Almost to the point of suspicion. But Elizabeth was happy to not get into any trouble, for once. She even wrote those exact words into her diary, because she wanted to share as much as possible with Peter, even though he was kind of being a grouch about the whole thing. Little did she know however, the drama that would ensue when she woke up.

The next morning the bell clanged loudly. A stunned Elizabeth yelped and stumbled out of bed, trapped in her blankets as the bell tolled. Elizabeth felt rushed as she struggled to get everything done before she had to leave for breakfast. Finally she was ready just as Daniel started to tap on her door. Elizabeth yanked open the door and silently went with Daniel down to the mess hall. Though breakfast went without any major problems, her first class, math, nearly had her in tears. She had forgotten her pencil, dropped her textbook on her foot, and got the answer wrong when she was called on. Thankfully, the next class was literature. Elizabeth loved words. She had read tons of books. Every port they stopped in, Elizabeth would come back on with an armful of books. At a couple of places, Peter asked her if she could even read the language it was written in. She would always tell him that she would figure it out, and somehow she always did.

"Okay, class. Take out your textbook and turn to page 50. Read the short story there and write two paragraphs describing how you felt about it." Elizabeth sighed. 'Another textbook.' The semi-old man noticed Elizabeth looking around.

"Oh, here," he said, handing her a textbook, "You must be new. What's your name?" "Oh, Mary." Elizabeth took a seat next to Daniel. She flipped to the page he said in her book, then immediately started on her two paragraphs. The teacher noticed this. "Why didn't you read the story? I will give punishment if you are just faking it." Mary looked up in surprise. "Oh no! I wouldn't do that. It's just, I've already read the story." "You have? How?" Mary closed her eyes. "One of my friends had a volume of small stories. She lent it to me awhile ago." The teacher accepted this. Soon, the class was over. Mary walked over to Daniel.

"Where do we go now?" she asked. Daniel replied. "Well, now we have lunch, then chorus, then we go outside for combat lessons." Mary's dismay showed on her face. Indicating her arms, that was full of books.

"So, what do we do with our books?" Daniel glanced at them.

"Oh, we get 20 minutes to change and stuff after lunch. And I recommend bringing a notebook or something to choir. Sometimes we have to do all these crazy exercises and then write them down."

"Okay, will do. Hey wait, I didn't know about choir. And I love to sing. I'm pretty good at it. Why wasn't I told?"

Daniel thought about it.

"I don't know, but there's really no other class you could take, unless you had a magical ability, which I don't think you do, so… Oh! Um, I think Sir Tomas might have a problem with a girl in his choir. Because I don't think he's ever taught one.

"What?" Mary exclaimed. "But wouldn't Lady Kel of had to take choir?"

"Not necessarily. I think it was started right after she became a squire."

"Oh."

"Anyway, don't worry about it. Let's just eat lunch." Mary and Daniel walked to the mess hall, and ate a large lunch.

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After Lunch

Mary walked out of her room to meet Daniel. Mary had changed into her workout clothes, and was only carrying a slim notebook. This time, Daniel led Mary to a part of the palace she hadn't been to yet. After I few twists and turns, Mary was lost. She was about to ask Daniel where were they when he stopped. He then knocked on the door and entered. Mary smiled. A chorus room! When she was living on Ladies' Luck, and they were in a Tortillian port, she would go and visit her friends, and they would always end up singing.

Most of the other boys were already there. Mary noticed that they all had seats except for her and the new guys. So she and Daniel split up, Daniel to his seat, and Mary to stand with the other guys. They all looked at her.

"Hi," One said, "My name's Brian." Mary smiled. "I'm Mary." Just when another guy was going to speak up, the chorus director walked in. HE walked importantly to the front of the room, and then spoke only to the boys seated.

"Hello boys. **I am ready to teach.**"

"**I am ready to learn.**" The boys replied. He then looked over to the new boys. HE said, "Tenors over there and Basses over there. Just grab an empty seat. The boys split into two groups, each heading to a different section. Elizabeth just stood there, waiting for her to be placed. Because Elizabeth sang soprano, and only soprano. But soon it became clear that Sir Thomas was going to ignore her. So Elizabeth cleared her throat and said, "Um, excuse me?" Sir Thomas looked at her.

"Yes?"

"Where do I sit?" Sir Thomas laughed.

"You don't. As you can see, there are no other girls here. And I just can't have on soprano, can I?" Sir Thomas turned back around, thinking it was over. But Mary didn't know what to do.

"So where do I go?" Sir Thomas sighed.

"I don't know. It's not really my problem though, is it?" Mary was shocked at this. She decided to ask one more question.

"So I'm only not allowed here because I'm the only girl, right?" Sir Thomas didn't really care anymore. He decided that he just wanted to have this stupid girl leave. So hurriedly he said, "Yes yes. Okay? Now scram." Elizabeth shrugged and left. After the class was about half-over, she finally found her floor. 'Wow, what a confusing place.' She thought as she opened her door. 'Now to find those addresses.'


	5. Changes

Changes

Disclaimer: I don't own any of Tamora Pierce's characters. No matter how much I want to.

Elizabeth met up with the rest of the pages at lunch. As she joined Daniel at the line for food, he gave her a pitying look.

"I am so sorry about earlier. I had no idea that he would do that. Are you okay?" Elizabeth nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. Besides, tomorrow the problem will not be a problem anymore." Daniel looked at her suspiciously. He opened his mouth to say something, but before he could, another guy started to talk to Mary.

"Hey, you're the new girl page, right?" "Yeah," Mary answered. The boy seemed friendly, he was dressed simply, but had the confidence about him that practically yelled out upper noble. "That's sucks, about what happened to you earlier. That man seriously needs to get over himself." Both Mary and Daniel burst out laughing. Daniel nodded, agreeing with him.

"I'm Brandon, by the way. Of Zanther." "Oh, I'm Mary of Ewinern. Nice to meet you." "Yeah, nice to meet you too." Just then the line moved forward. The three grabbed their lunches and walked together to an empty table. They talked about classes and such until it was time to go suit up for outdoor classes.

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Elizabeth felt nervous as she watched the other pages stretch out for the first combat class. It was Shang, supposedly the hardest combat class offered. And she only tensed up more as two people with tough muscles walked to the front of the group. As if on cue, the older Shang warrior made a motion, and the older pages left, leaving only the first and second years to the other Shang warrior. He introduced himself, and then proceeded to teach them the basics of hand-to-hand combat. Elizabeth felt herself relax as she realized that she already knew these movements. She had learned them years ago, shortly after getting on Ladies' Luck. Thankfully, soon they were able to move on to more advanced stuff. But Elizabeth already knew it. 'At least this will be a good review for me.' She thought as she did the exercises over and over again. 'Maybe this won't be so bad.' For the remaining time, Elizabeth reflected over how lucky she was that no one had really "heckled" her, or anything like that. After the Shang left, the training master sat everyone down, every year, and proceeded to give a long, boring lecture on the weapons that they would be using in their training. At first, Elizabeth paid rapt attention to the lecture, thinking that they might be quizzed on it or something, but after several minutes, she realized that he was going through every weapon, listing every use, and ways of misuse. Elizabeth figured that whatever she needed to know, Daniel could tell her. She her mind raced. Out past the palace, the wonderful city with bright colors, past the country farms, and homeless bandits, and onto the sea, with her one true love, and the wind in her hair.

All at once the speech was over and the older pages were standing up. Elizabeth looked around, then got up when she saw Daniel looking at her. "What's going on now?" She asked him. "Time for the horses." He said back to her. "If you don't have your own, then I recommended running to the stable before you get stuck with the worst one. "Don't worry," Elizabeth said, "I brought my own." "Well, you'd better hope no one else wants you horse, because basically, if a older page wants any horse in the stable, and they get to it first, the only way to get it back is to fight for it." Elizabeth stared at him, aghast. "What? They can steal a horse? Right in the palace?" Daniel looked uncomfortable. "Well, if they like it, and take it, they pay you a fair price. Just, it's not always as much as it should be." "Well, why doesn't anybody do anything about it?" "Because, when Sir Kel got rid of the hazing problem, this kind of picked up, to replace it." Elizabeth sighed. "Oh well, at least I don't have to worry about that." Daniel looked confused. "But, didn't you get say that you had a horse?" Elizabeth opened her mouth to comment, but as they were talking, they had been walking. And they noticed quite a commotion in front of a stall. "What's going on?" Daniel asked a page who was watching. "There's a fight going on about who's going to get the new horse here. It's a beauty, and man, if I had only gotten here earlier, I'd be fighting to." He said back. Elizabeth looked up to the stall. Then she gasped. "That's my horse!" the other page looked at her with pity in his eyes. "Oh, I'm so sorry. You'll probably never get to see her again." "But you don't understand! They'll get hurt!" Daniel and the older boy looked at her quizzically. But before they could ask any questions, Elizabeth shouldered her way though the gaggle of boys, all practically yelling at each other. Finally, she was able to make it to the stall door. She slid past the two fourth years who seemed ready to fight each other, and cooed at the gorgeous black horse that stood calmly inside. At first the two boys just ignored her, but when Elizabeth tried to open the door, they flipped out. "Hey! What do you think you're doing with my horse?" They both yelled. This of course got the attention of everyone else. Elizabeth tried to correct them. "Um, no, this is my horse, and I think that you two should get out of my way before we get in trouble for being late." The boys' mouths dropped. One recovered before the other and stuck his finger in her face. "You don't know how things work here, new girl. I got here first, and I saw this horse, so I'm claiming it. If you really are this horse's owner, then I'm willing to pay a nice sum." After finishing, the boy looked haughty, like the matter was done and over with. But Elizabeth couldn't let this happen, so she opened her mouth, and out came, "What is going on here?" Everyone turned to see the training master standing at the barn door. The two boys fought for his attention. The training master chose the boy who had spoken to Elizabeth first. "What is this madness from, Theodore?" Theodore answered slowly. "Well, my lord, we were just deciding on who was best fitted for taking care of this fine horse here. I, of course, am the best, but several others wish it wasn't so." The training master thought.

"Who brought the horse here?" He asked. "I did, Sir." Mary said. He turned to look at her. Then he turned back to Theodore and said, "She's yours, boy. Now, let's all hurry up and get to riding!" But as he went to leave, Mary broke through.

"My lord! I… I'm sorry, but he can't have this horse!" Gasps were heard throughout the stable. Theodore turned to her, bearing down hard.

"What do you mean? The training master said she was mine, besides, I said you would get paid! Just let this go!" Mary shook her head. "You don't understand. If you try to… Wait. Okay," Mary said, giving in. "You can have her for free if you do one thing." Theodore smiled and looked haughty. "And what's that?" "Ride her." Mary said simply. "Excuse me?" the boy asked.

"I want to see you ride her, and if you can ride her well, I'll give her to you for free. Actually, I'd give her to any boy that could really ride her." They all laughed at this, but Elizabeth was completely serious. So the training master gave his consent, and the black mare was saddled. They made their way to the outside ring, chatting excitedly as they waited to see what happened.

A/N: So I finally fixed it! And I'm not dead, I'll be loading the newest chapter soon. It's already done, I just have to get it back from my beta reader.


	6. Chapter 7

Dancing!

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, or places, that you recognize.

Thanks to all of my reviewers.

A/N: Sorry it took me so long to update. I was kind of stuck. Anyway, thanks for being patient.

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As Elizabeth walked back to her room, she pondered her plans for tonight. Because she was known as the most knowledgeable, she had to teach "D- day." As she rounded the corner of the hallway, she heard giggling.

'Uh oh.' She thought as she caught the backs of five boys running from her room. As she went up to the door she could tell they had tried to get in but hadn't had any luck. So she carefully looked around, trying to find anything wrong. When she didn't see anything Elizabeth carefully opened the door. Splash! A huge bucket full of water came crashing down. Elizabeth was soaked! Luckily, the bucket had fallen to the left of her, landing noisily on the floor.

With a groan Elizabeth walked inside, avoiding the looks the boys gave her as they had sprinted out of their rooms when they heard the noise. Looking down at herself, Elizabeth wondered if she had time to change. Hoping that she did, she started to walk over to her dresser. But a flashing light caught her attention.

Turning, Elizabeth studied the huge mirror taking up most of the far wall. Almost simultaneously, five different faces showed up on it.

"Hi Liz!" They all said, waving. Elizabeth smiled.

"Hi guys. Perfect timing."

"Uh, why are you all wet?" One girl with strawberry blonde hair asked. Elizabeth rolled her eyes.

"Oh, well, I just came back from the last class I had and some of the boys set up a little prank before I got back. Hence the water dripping all over me." All the girls laughed. By this time more girls had joined, most catching what Elizabeth had said.

"Well, that's what you get for living with a bunch of boys." A tan, blonde girl smirked.

"Well yeah, but when I lived with Peter and the crew I wasn't pranked like this. Well, a couple times, but _only_ by Peter."

"Honey, that's because Peter's father is one of the most notorious pirates alive. They knew that if they messed with you, it would be their heads." A beautiful girl with warm brown skin said with a laugh.

"Yeah, yeah, anyway, you shouldn't mention the p-word around here. You never know who could be listening in."

"Oh, which word? Peter or Pirates? Why don't you just relax, Liz?" Another girl said with a laugh.

"Well that's easy enough for you Christine, your not a girl training to be a knight of Tortall, who just happens to be known under a false name, **and** was raised by pirates. I think I have a right to be wound up tight."

"So let's get started already, it might help to take away the stress." Another blonde suggested.

"Now? Shouldn't we wait for everyone else?" Christine asked, looking around at all the faces.

"No," Elizabeth said, "Most of the others are hopefully, on their way here."

"Oh, yeah! I wanted to come, but of course my dad is making me baby-sit my little brothers while he and mom are traveling." Addie said.

"Anyway, let's just get started, I still have homework to do." Elizabeth interrupted before the conversation strayed to far.

"Okay." Came the general response. Elizabeth stood in the middle of the room, giving herself plenty of space.

"Okay, now, today, we are going to go really slow, mostly because I'm sore, and also I think it's a good time to teach you guys the art of Yamani Dances."

Everyone agreed. Elizabeth nodded to one girl. Her hands began to glow as she mumbled a spell. All of a sudden the unmistakable sound of the music from the Yamani islands came pouring out, it was like a live band was playing in every location where the girls were. Everyone clapped for the shy brunette. Then they turned their attention back to Elizabeth.

"Okay, now, to start off in the traditional Yamani fashion your first position will almost always start out like this…" Elizabeth continued on for about an hour and a half, teaching everyone how to do the dance. Afterwards, she collapsed on her bed, completely forgetting about her homework. Oh, well, she'll remember tomorrow!

A/N: Sorry it took me so long to update! At first I was just being lazy, then my computer crashed. Thankfully my dad was able to save all of our documents. Anyway, just in case there is any confusion, D-day stands for dance day, and Elizabeth teaches everyone. She knows all of the dances because she would learn the dances when she traveled on the pirate ship. Okay? Good.


	7. Chapter 8

A Surprise in Choir

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, or places, that you recognize.

Thanks to all of my reviewers.

A/N: Thanks to Greta99 for telling me about my grammar in Chapt. 6. I did know about it, but because when I tried to load the edited version it would post something completely weird! So finally I got it to load and I was just so sick of the thing I didn't worried about editing. I will be editing the other chapters though, so hopefully that won't happen again.

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The next morning Elizabeth woke up. With a groan she swung herself out of bed. Her body hurt all over! She could handle it though; living with a lot of rough men had that effect. Where you either learned to live with the pain and continue about your day, or at least hide it very well. Elizabeth started to stretch when a knock came at the door. Curious, Elizabeth slowly opened the door to find… A servant! She had on the simple tunic of the palace worker, and her hair was tied back in a bandana. When Elizabeth had opened the door fully, she gave a little curtsy and introduced herself.

"Hello, my lady, I am Irena Rose, and I am to help you during your stay at the palace." Elizabeth was delighted! She loved that name!

"Hi, and please, call me Eli…. Mary, I don't want to be known as one of those stuck-up noble brats, okay?" Irena Rose shrugged and nodded.

"Oh, right. Please, come in! Tell me all about the palace."

"Okay… what do you want to know?" Just then the bells started to ring. Elizabeth realized that she only had five minutes before she had to be in the mess hall for breakfast.

"Oh Mithos! I've got to run!" Frantically Elizabeth ran around, tossing on clothes, brushing her hair, and grabbing her things. With a great gasp Elizabeth dropped her things.

"What? What's wrong?" Irena Rose asked her.

"My homework." Elizabeth replied, stunned that she had forgotten to do it. Irena laughed at Mary's face. But shut up quickly as Mary turned and ran, grabbing an extra book as she left the room.

"Bye Irena! Nice meeting you! Oh! And please lock my room after your done! Thank you!" Irena started to laugh again as she watched Mary fly down the hallway.

'This is going to be one interesting year.' She thought, getting back to work.

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Down at breakfast, Elizabeth had managed to be on time, but was forced to ignore everyone as she frantically did her homework. Daniel was very amused as he watched her stuff her face with one hand and scribble with the other.

"And I thought girls were supposed to have all the manners." Daniel kidded her. Elizabeth paused just long enough to reply back.

"They do, but not when they are starving and have a ton of homework to finish up. Now leave me alone!" With that, Mary went back to her work. When Brian sat down to join them and opened his mouth to start talking Daniel shook his head.

"What?" Brandon asked.

"Women." Daniel replied.

----------------In Class----------------------------------------

"Now, who can tell me about linear equations?" The math instructor asks, walking around the room. He called on Brandon and the class flew by. Soon it was time literature, and Elizabeth was actually looking foreword to it.

Once in the big room, all of the pages took out their textbooks and started to flip through. Mary noticed this and turned to ask Daniel about it. Before she could open her mouth though, he already answered her question.

"Let me guess, I bet you are wondering where the master is and why the boys are already starting to work?" Surprised, Mary nodded her head. Daniel continued on.

"Well, this happens fairly often because Master Yunkim has heart problems. He instructs us to just read ahead in our textbooks or at least write our own story or essay, or whatever. And we do it because Master Numiar once put a spell in here for him that allows him to know what we have been doing."

"Wow, but why would Master Numiar, the most powerful mage that we know of, but a spell on a simple teachers room? And besides that, Master Yunkim didn't seem all that sick. Are sure he isn't out doing something else?"

"Master Yunkim?" Daniel scoffed. "Please, that man isn't capable of anything else besides teaching." Elizabeth shrugged, but still felt a little weird about the whole thing. After reading about a dozen stories out of the textbook, the loud bell rung, signaling the next class. Mary and Daniel dropped of their textbooks then went to the choir room. Elizabeth felt everyone give her strange looks. This was finally acknowledged when Brian went up to her and asked her the one question that was haunting everyone.

"What are you doing? I thought that Sir Tomas kicked you out?" the lanky kid said to Mary.

"Well, he did, but I've got an offer he can't refuse." Mary then walked off, looking (and feeling) very mysterious. She got to the choir room before any of the boys and delighted screams could be heard coming from it as soon as she opened the door. In a panic, all the boys came running, thinking she was in trouble. When they saw what was in the room, about twenty or so jaws dropped. For standing around in the room, were a lot of girls. And they were girls that the boys haven't seen at the palace. Yet each girl was wearing their family crest, a sign that they were all noble.

"So many, it's unbelievable." Said one third-year as he gazed around, almost in a stupor.

"Yeah," Said a second year stupidly. "What are they doing here?"

Meanwhile, the girls didn't enough notice the boys. They were too busy giving hugs and chatting it up with everyone. One girl even squealed and tackled Mary to the ground. Mary laughed loudly and just rolled over, until the two were able to pick themselves up and stop laughing.

Finally, with about a minute left until the bell rang, the girls started to notice they weren't alone. As one, they all turned and stared at the boys in the doorway. All the boys started to really feel freaked out. At last, Mary broke the tension as she struggled out of the death-grip a pretty blonde had on her, and walked to the center of the two groups.

"Okay guys, no need to be so alarmed. These are my friends, and really, don't worry, they don't bite." Mary said, as she gestured at the girls. After a few more minutes of confused gawking, two boys finally broke out of their stupor and walked up to Mary.

Daniel and Brian were still confused as to why there were girls in the choir room, but they were warming up to the idea. They both were hoping that Mary would explain everything to them. And she did, though not very loudly, because she wanted all of the boys in the room so she would only have to repeat it once.

"So, do you guys have any idea what's going on?" Mary asked them.

"No clue." Daniel said. Brian nodded his head.

"Okay, it's very simple. Sir Thomas won't let me be in Choir because I'd be the only Soprano, right?"

"Right…"

"So, I wrote to some of my friends, and they came to join the choir. Now it's about even. There may actually be one or two less then you guys, but that's a good thing anyway because girls tend to sing louder then most guys. Well,sopranos do in any case." Mary finished with a nod.

Daniel and Brian nodded, as they finally understood this 'mess.' Brandon now walked out to join the little group in the middle of the room. Just when he reached the group a pair of identical twins also walked up to join Mary.

"So Mary, are you going to introduce us?" One of the girls asked, looking at Brian.

"Yes, please do." The other said, glancing at Brandon.

"Oh, well, this is Brian, and this is… Brandon? Right?" Mary wasn't too sure if that was his name. He had only talked to her once, after all. But he nodded, so Mary didn't worry about it.

"Awe, how cute. Brandon and Brian. It sounds like twin names." One twin said.

"And we should know, we're pretty much experts!" The other added on.

Mary chuckled, and then told the boys the names of the twins.

"The one on your right is Kelly, the other is Kate."

"A-Hem!" Daniel broke in with a "cough."

"Oh, right. Girls, this is Daniel, he is my sponsor, and a pretty good one at that." Mary said.

"Cool! It's so nice…"

"To meet you!" the twins said, splitting the sentence.

"Yeah, same here." Daniel said, even though he was a little freaked out.

Finally, the bell rang. Still chatting up a storm, the girls moved to stand in front of the chairs that they had put in front of the regular boy's chairs. With the bells' loud tones spurring the boys into action, they too, also filed in to stand in front of their chairs.

After two minutes went by and there was no sign of Sir Tomas, the boys started to get worried, he was usually pretty good about being on time. Just then, Sir Thomas himself walked in the doorway.

"Hrggh, I can't believe that little bugger…. Grimmtiyshjkd hemnajksdiurent…" Sir Thomas was muttering to himself. He was so preoccupied; he didn't even notice that he now had many more students to teach. In fact, he didn't even look up until he stood on top of his directing stand. And when he finally did, his face was worth, oh, about ten-twenty diamonds, according to Brandon.

"What is going on here? This isn't some provocative group out on the street; this is the Palace Choir! I don't let girls sing!" The already angry man looked like he was a tomato, with his face as red as it could be, and the spit was just flying out of his mouth. Fortunately, the first row of girls was just out of range for the high flying spittle to really hit it's mark.

After Sir Thomas had his 'little fit,' Mary stood up and proceeded to talk to him.

"Sir Thomas, you told me that I could not join the Palace Choir because I would be the only girl. Well, that's not fair! With such wonderful women like Sir Alanna, Sir Keladry, Queen Thayet doing so much to finally equalize men and women, you should be glad that you are not being left out! So, after you refused to let me sing by myself, I got a hold of some of my friends. We all agree that we could do just as well as your boys are doing, and maybe even make the choir better. All we are asking for right now, is for you to give us a chance." All of the girls held their breath as they waited for Sir Thomas to say something. After a very tense moment, Sir Thomas gave a curt nod, then expressed his thoughts.

"Okay, I'll give today, and tomorrow to you girls so you can have your chance." He spat out the word chance with contempt, "but if anyone of you gives me any back talk,this choirwill go back to normal."

Most of the girls shrugged. The rest just stared at one petite blonde who was infamous in the group as the talker. She looked back at them with an innocent expression.

Interrupting the silent exchange, Sir Thomas cleared his throat, then told them,

"Ladies, there is a packet of extra sheet music behind the piano, will five of you please pass the music out to the rest of the new students?" The man looked like he was trying very hard to control himself. Without talking to each other, five girls spread out almost perfectly across the rows they were in, stood up,quickly got the music and handed it out. Once everyone had the music that was needed, Sir Thomas gave the signal for everyone to rise and begin warming up.

A/N: I'm sorry this has taken so long. I know that most of you are probably pretty confused about this chapter. Again, I apologize. I know this chapter isn't well written so I will try to rewrite it over the weekend, but I really wanted to just get put up. Also, while I didn't really like writing this chapter, I kind of did need to write it because it well play a big part in the rest of the story. Thank you for being so patient.


	8. Chapter 9

A Big Splat of Goop

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, or places, that you recognize.

Thanks to all of my reviewers.

A/N: Okay, this chapter is not about Elizabeth. I am switching to Kel's point of view. And I am attempting to write a humorous chapter, so if it isn't, don't sue. Just deal with it. Thanks! Oh, and I had sent this to my Beta reader but her computer crashed, so I'm posting this a lot later then I had planned. Blame her!

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A familiar sight was walking through the halls of the glorious palace of Jonathon Conte. Two knights, along with the top sergeant of the King's Own, easily strolled down the hallway, all sweaty after a long arms practice. This had become the routine, the second lady knight walking towards her rooms, along with her fellow knight and friend, Sir Neal, who joined her to visit his fiancé, and last but not least, the close friend of Kel, and cousin of Neal, Domitan who had started to walk with them after not finishing a conversion with Kel. It soon had just became habit.But, the familiar routine was broken tonight when Kel stopped at a corner that split into different wings. Confused, both men stopped to look at her.

"Um, Kel, why'd you stop?" Dom asked. Neal also expressed his confusion.

"Because Shrinko told me that she wanted me to stop by her room for some stuff about the wedding. It's probably something about the silverware now. I swear, she wants my opinion about everything."

The guys chuckled, then Neal spoke up.

"Wait, will Yuki be there? I need to talk to her about the guest list." Kel shrugged.

"Probably, maybe we should all walk down there? It shouldn't take long." Dom nodded and the trio walked down a different hallway, headed to the royal guest rooms.

In just a few minutes, they reached their destination. Kel confidently knocked on the door, positive that this visit would be over fast.

Kel was still in the process of knocking when the door was nearly ripped open.

"Hi Kel!" Yuki said, then reached out and grabbed Kel's arm.

"Um, Yuki, what are you doing?" Kel asked, looking at Yuki's hand.

"This." Yuki said simply, and gave a big pulling, making Kel fall off-balanced into the room. Once Kel was successfully in the room, Yuki turned back to Neal and Dom.

"Hi honey, hi Dom. Um, I'll see you both later. Oh, and if you hear any strange noises or screams coming from here, ignore them." Yuki told them, and then moved to shut the door. She was interrupted by Neal.

"Wait! What is going on?" Neal demanded. Yuki thought a moment.

"Oh, just an innocent bridal shower. Hee hee hee." Yuki finished by laughing manically. Which gave the two guys the impression of the exact opposite of innocent anything. Yuki then continued to slam the door. Dom looked at Neal and shrugged. They both just walked away.

"Okay, what is going on?" Asked a very confused Keladry. Jump, Kel's dog, looked up at his owner from his rug in the corner, after deciding she wasn't in danger he went back to sleep.

"Oh, it's just the bridal shower." Shrinko answered her.

"Then what was with all the secrecy and pulling me in and everything?"

"About that, well, because it is my shower, I decided to make it a spa day. So we are going all out to get girly, mainly to make my mother very mad once she gets here, but also because I figured this would be the only time we can actually get you away from the guys, and into some girly stuff."

"What?" Kel said, at this point backing away from the rest of the girls. "You know I hate this stuff, I'm not going to stay here if that's all you are going to do." Shrinko gave an evil grin.

"That's what we hoped you would say. Girls, Plan B!" Kel didn't know what to do as all the bride's maids walked towards her.

"Guys, what are you doing! Come on, let's talk about this, I don't want to do this!"

MEANWHILE

Sir Gary the younger sat in a private meeting Jonathon, his friend and king. Well, it wasn't really a meeting because Jonathon just wanted touse him to get out of king requirements. Once the two felt they had wasted enough time, they rose to pack up the papers they had left out in case someone barged in. As Gary was doing this, a single sheet of paper fell to the ground. Noticing it, Jonathon picked it up.

"Hey, what's this?" he asked Gary. Not even looking, Gary waved his hand.

"Probably just a complaint about some crap. Literally."

"No, I don't think this is, in fact it looks like an informant paper." At this, Gary looked up.

"An informant paper? Are you sure? How would it have gotten in here?" Gary, leaving the other papers behind, walked up to Jonathon and looked at the paper over his shoulder.

After reading it, Jonathon told Gary, in a very serious voice.

"If this is true, we must get everyone here right away. Especially if they are to get back before the wedding."

"Jon, you can't be serious! You actually believe that this is real?" Gary protested. Jon gave Gary a simple look.

"Gary, when I became the voice for all those people, I learned all of their legends, their rumors, their history. In the earlier legends, it talks of this… this weapon. Then it was lost, and everyone was told to forget about it. The facts are cloudy, but they do point to this weapon being real."

"Oh Mithros," Gary whispered, "if it is true then what are we going to do."

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Alanna felt confused as she ran through the halls of the palace. Jon had called her for some reason, and he wanted her to grab Raul and Neal. Turning a corner, the Lady knight ran smack into Dom.

"Oh Dom! I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention."

"Hey don't worry about it. You can't help that your old and getting cataracts." Dom laughed as Alanna gave him a well-deserved punch.

"Ow! Hey, I was kidding! And did you have to punch so hard? Geez."

"Oh I'll give you old, you insufferable man. Anyway, have you seen your meathead of a cousin? The king needs him."

"The king needs him? Whatever for?"

"Well, not just him. I guess you should come too, because I got this really weird message stating that I should get down to the meeting room and to grab any and all warriors that I see."

"What? No explanation or anything? Just get here quick?"

"Yeah, basically."

"Well, let's go then." With that, Dom grabbed the forearm of Alanna and ran down the hallway, dragging her behind him.

In the Meeting Room.

The medium size room was filled to the brink with knights, Shang, and street fighters. Sitting, standing, it was a hodge-podge of the best. The only ones missing were the bride-to-be, her servants, and Kel. The noise in the room accelerated as everyone speculated on what could possibly be so important that the king would call everyone so suddenly. Just then, a loud whistle ripped through the room, effectively interrupting the conversion.

"Finally!" Said Gary, huffing a bit. With a grand gesture, he handed the floor to the King.

"Thank you to each and everyone of you. Now I know that everyone is probably wondering why called this impromptu meeting. You see, earlier today, my advisor and I found a worrying paper. Quite simply, it described a weapon of horrifying proportions. Only a select few can even pick it up, yet alone wield it. But if this weapon should fall into the wrong hands, it could be catastrophic to the world as we know it. That's why I have decided to send a party now, to retrieve it. Because if I know about it, then you better believe that if our enemies don't know now, they will soon. I think we need to get this thing now, before it's taken by a country that has no qualms about taking over the world."

"Like your grandfather, eh Jon?" A voice called out from the back. Everyone laughed, breaking the tension. Jon looked down at his hands.

"While I do not deny that my grandfather was very, uh, interested, in expansion, my plan is that once we have recovered the weapon is to destroy it. Early legends of the Bazaar have told what this thing is capable of. I do not wish to take any chances. Now, as far as we can tell, to get to the weapon, you will have to go north, through Galla, and reenter Tortal. I know it's a bit weird, but the only usable pass comes from Galla. To the person who is able to bring back the weapon, I will grant an immense purse, and another land title. And while there are a few more technicalities and dangers, then what I have said, I want volunteers now, so I can get an idea of how many people will be going."

Almost all of the people in the room raised their hands, Alanna and Dom, with a few others, being the exception. As Gary was counting hands, Jonathan asked who was missing.

"The Yamanis, Kel, and the training master with his students." The prince informed his father. Jonathan nodded, thinking.

"Okay, I'll just talk to the Yamanis now, after all, they are going to be family soon."

Jonathan sat down at the head of the one table and called for his communication mirror. The room grew quieter as no one wanted to interrupt the king when he was doing business.

Jonathan muttered a spell, and the mirror began to fog up. Jonathan furrowed his brow. No one was answering! So Jonathan muttered another spell, and the fog moved around the glass.

"Hi your Majesty!" Shrinko said, popping up center of the mirror. At this, everyone shut up and watched the mirror.

"To what do I owe this pleasure?" Shrinko asked, looking to the side of the mirror, away from the king.

"I have an important message for all of the Yamanis, though because of your impeding wedding, I don't think you really need to concern your self with it."

"Well, most of us are here, my guards were given the day off though, so most of them are in the city. Oh, and Kel's here too, so you don't have to worry about her." Shrinko said, finally giving the king her full attention.

"Okay, well I guess you can ask them later but…" The king stopped talking as a huge scream was heard. Every jaw in the meeting room dropped as Kel ran across the screen, being chased by two tiny Yamani. They watched as they tried to corner Kel. But the image was cut short as Shrinko directed the mirror back on her.

"Yeah, ignore that. Now, what were you going to tell me?" The king looked apprehensive.

"Um, what is going on in there? Is everything okay?"

"Oh yeah, everything is fine. Don't worry about it."

"Right. Anyway, there's this weapon, and it is very important to go and get it. So I am setting up a team to retrieve it…" Again, the king was interrupted, but this time it was slightly different.

Kel managed to evade her attackers, and was now running back across the room. Kel pulled up short though when she caught sight of King Jon in the mirror.

"Your Majesty! Thank Mithros!" for once Kel let out a big grin. Getting past Shrinko, Kel reached up and pulled the mirror off the wall. Then turning around, she had her back to the wall, and held out the mirror in front of her.

"Ha! You can't get me now! I've got protection!" (Ha ha, do you have protection?)

"Oh come on! Stop acting like a child and just let us have some fun." The room could see Yuki say.

"What is going on in there?" The King demanded.

"It's only a wedding shower, your majesty." Shrinko said innocently.

"Wedding shower, hah! More like the wedding shower of doom!" Kel said from behind the mirror. Your majesty, they're trying to torture me!" Shrinko could barely contain her laughter, and everyone could tell, because her eyes were so wrinkled that it looked like she had premature crowsfeet.

"Look, right now I don't care what you all are doing, because I will eventually find out, but could you please just listen to me for a few minutes?"

"I will do my best your majesty." Shrinko said. Everyone else nodded.

"Thank you. Now, there is a horrible weapon that has recently been discovered. I am sending out a group of warriors to retrieve it and you are all welcome to join, but I am being forced to send the group before the wedding to get the weapon so there is no chance that another country will have a chance to get it." The women took a moment to soak all of this in. Then Yuki asked,

"Are you done, your majesty?" Jon nodded. Yuki smiled.

"Jump, get her! Attack I say!" Jump was jolted awake, and thinking that it was some kind of game, he ran towards Kel.

"Jump! No! You're supposed to be my friend!" In desperation, Kel handed the mirror off to Shrinko, then continued to run around the room, Jump right on her heels.

On the second time around, Yuki thought of a great idea. Grabbing a pot that was sitting on the miniature table, Yuki quietly stepped in front of the path the Kel was currently running. Yuki just so happenedto place herself on one side of the mirror, just enough so the people in the meeting room could still see her. Dipping her hand in, Yuki collected this green, sticky, mixture. Kel, in her quest to avoid Jump, failed to see her friend.

In prefect view of everyone, Yuki reached back, and then let 'er fly. Everything came to a screeching halt as the green goop dripped down Kel forehead, and nose, then chin. Kel's mouth dropped open as she started to wipe off the stuff. When Kel looked at the goop now on her fingers, Kel automatically began to say,

"Ew…ew…how could you do this to me, ew…" Then, just to add more to the shock, Shrinko, of all people, tackled Kel, making Kel emit one last scream.

"Now Yuki! Dump it all over her!" Everyone in the meeting room wanted to look away, yet they were strangely riveted. But Yuki then pulls the switch to turn of the connection between the mirrors, and then ran over to join Shrinko.

A/N: Sorry, this took me so long; I was on a long trip and had no Internet. I nearly went crazy. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this one.


	9. Chapter 10

New Journey

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, or places, that you recognize.

Thanks to all of my reviewers!

A/N: Time hasn't really passed by for Elizabeth. Except that now she is in the afternoon classes, like riding and archery, etc. Hope you all enjoy!

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After the surprisingly smooth chorus rehearsal, Elizabeth was bombarded with questions from her male peers whenever the teaching masters weren't looking.

"Hey Mary, were all those girls really your friends?" One annoyingly snooty boy asked her, making her just want to punch him.

"Yes," Mary said, rolling her eyes. "I invited them here personally."

"So, could you introduce me to that hot blonde?" One of the older pages asked her, obviously thinking he was hot stuff. He really wasn't.

But, as soon as those words left his mouth, Elizabeth wasn't left alone. Every guy wanted a date. Even Daniel.

"Come on, aren't we friends?" He whined.

"Yes, but I invited the girls here to sing a little, learn a lot, and to basically have fun. If you want a date, then you have to introduce yourself, don't use me." Daniel went away huffing. But Elizabeth wasn't really worried about his wounded male pride. Most of her friends weren't shy, and if they saw a guy they liked, then they would simply go after him. And for the ones that were shy, they'd be fine.

Pretty soon, Daniel came back. Elizabeth drew up her arrow to let it fly as he whispered to her, "Sorry I got carried away. Are we still good?"

Elizabeth looked at him.

"Of course we're still good, you lug." Daniel grinned and then got back to his own work. The day passed by quickly. Elizabeth fell into her bed, for once actually caught up on her work. She had spent as much time in her room as she could, to avoid more of the questions.

The next day!

As all the pages waited in the dining hall for breakfast to start, the training master surveyed the room. He took a deep breath, to convince himself that he was doing the right thing.

"Ahem." He cleared his throat. That got most of the pages attention. The others quickly quieted down as they turned to look at where the others were staring.

"I know that this is extremely early and out of season for what we are going to do, not to mention that you first year pages have barely had any training yet, but the king thinks that this would be good for you, and I have to agree. There is a group of warriors that are heading out tomorrow to retrieve a weapon that could bring death upon us all if it isn't secured. All of us are leaving with them, to gain the experience from the older adults. There will be no outdoor classes today, so you will have time to ready yourselves. Now, let's eat!" All the pages broke out talking, but hurriedly walked to the line for food. As the day progressed, everyone tried to guess what weapon could unleash such horror that the king would send so many people to get it.

Since choir was the last class it was all Sir Thomas could do to keep it in any sort of order. The girls were upset that Elizabeth was leaving them so soon after they got there. But they weren't the ones making the most trouble. Three times the boys had to be told to quiet down, and only after being threatened with torture did they even attempt to settle down. Even so, the girls showed them up by each and every one singing the two songs by memory. (It did work in their favor because the girls had performed the songs before and already had those songs memorized. But the boys didn't have yo know that.)

After the class was over Sir Thomas stated that the girls could stay and even went so far as to say that they helped the balance of all the sounds.

A/N: Sorry this ends so abrupt. I'm leaving on a missions trip to Mexico and wanted to get this up before I left. Now I have to go and pack.


	10. Chapter 11

Surprise!

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, or places, that you recognize.

Thanks to all of my reviewers!

A/N: Sorry for taking so long. I now have a one-shot up in the Harry Potter section. Read it Please! L8ter. Oh, for this chapter I most likely will be switching back and forth between Elizabeth and Kel. If you don't like then maybe, just maybe, I'll redo it. But that's very unlikely.

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It was bright and early when the group of warriors set out to retrieve the weapon. Elizabeth had a smile on her face because here she was, a lowly page, going on a mission with the best of the best, where maybe she could learn something completely new. She shivered in delight. One of the other pages saw this and decided to poke fun.

"What, you scared of a little trip, girl? Who knows what dangers could be on this mission. There could be spiders." He sneered. Elizabeth rolled her eyes. Then she gave a loud whistle. Scores of guys were forced to move as Cassie's big form trotted to Elizabeth. Elizabeth patted her muzzle as Sir Raul called for attention.

"Attention people! Listen up! We're about to leave. The sergeants should be making their way through and they will tell you what to expect and will make sure that everyone has the stuff that they need. Listen to them, their advice could prove essential." There was a pattering of applause as he turned and went back to doing his business. Elizabeth was called around to an older looking sergeant that was gathering most of the pages.

"Hey, look 'ere now. We'll be away for at least three days. We do hope to stop in a few places so you'll need to have at least something to change into. You must have the stuff you need for your animal, and most important, good weapons, in case everything doesn't go with the plan. Now, I'm bringing my hunting knife, my dagger, my sword, and my bow. If you don't have at least two different weapons on you right now, you might as well just leave." Two pages left, running back into the palace to grab another weapon. Elizabeth smirked; everything she touched could be used as a weapon. But just in case, she also had a beautiful, feminine dagger that the king of pirates had given her for her birthday. And the spear all pages are given, of course.

Within three minutes the pages were back, and breathing hard. A few minutes later, everyone formed into some sort of an order, and they were off. It wasn't a big ceremony, no one really came to say good-bye, but Elizabeth had the feeling that something important was going to happen and she would miss it. Little did she know that the adventure she was about to have was way bigger then the drama that happened upon the palace.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Shinko felt a large twinge of fear though her face betrayed none of it. She and nearly all the people left in the palace were out and standing by the edge of the docks, watching as the Yamani wedding party arrived. The big, opulent ship cruised in, denying that anyone with less then noble intentions would be aboard. But Shrinko knew that anything to do with her mother would be trouble. No matter how hard she tried to convey her reasoning, the prince just couldn't understand why she didn't like her mother. She closed her eyes and composed herself.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

"Raul, this is crazy. There's a bad storm coming in and we need to get out of it, if not for us, then for the good of our animals. We can't afford to let anyone get sick or hurt, Raul." Lady Kel pleaded.

"Yes, I understand, but we also can't afford to lose time by stopping until the storm is over."

"But you don't understand! The animals are acting really weird, like something bad is going to happen. You need to listen to this, Raul." Just then Neal trotted up on his horse.

"There's a bad piece of weather coming in, I think that maybe we should take cover while it's still light out." Kel looked smug. Raul sighed and rolled his eyes.

"All right. But where are we supposed to go? Who's going to be able to bed down this many people at such a short notice?" Neal and Kel thought. Finally Neal thought of a place.

"What about that castle in the Briar Woods? Last time I was there they had plenty of room, and since they were blessed with a particularly good season this year, food shouldn't be a problem." Neal suggested.

"All right. We'll give it a try. But if they can't support us, then I want no complaints when we leave."

"Okay." Neal and Kel both said. And the company followed the commander to safety.

Twenty Minutes before the storm

Everyone was getting restless. By now the storm clouds had rolled in and were hanging very ominously over the entire group. No complaints were spoken out loud, but they were very much bouncing around in many heads. When a large castle came into view, a collective sigh was let loose. Elizabeth frowned.

"I've seen this place before, but, something's different…" Daniel glanced over at her.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"Are we in Brambaia? I think that I've been here before, but I've never been here during the day."

"What? Like you've only seen it at night?"

"Yeah, that's when my friends and I would get here. But just in case it's not Brambaia, I think I am going to hang back here."

"Right. You do whatever you need to do." Daniel said, easing away from her. Elizabeth rolled her eyes at the look he had given her. Just then, Raul came up to the entrance.

Dismounting from his horse, Raul looked for the doorknocker. (This is an out of the way castle, they don't have servants) After giving up on finding it, the large man began pounding on the door. Elizabeth sighed. Now she was sure that she knew this castle. Easing her way through the throng of people, she stayed on top of Cassie.

Walking up the stone steps, everyone quit talking and turned to stare at her. After asking Raul to kindly step aside, Elizabeth stood up and balanced on Cassie's back. She reached up with her arm and grasped a small, barely noticeable wooden triangle attached to a chord. As she pulled on it, the strange doorbell let out five loud clangs. After a minute of silence, the top half of the iron doors opened.

"Hello?" Said a young teenage girl as she poked out her head. Her top half was right at the same height as Elizabeth on Cassie. Elizabeth cleared her throat. The girl turned to the side.

"Oh wow! Eli… Mary! What are you doing here?" She asked as her eyes all lit up.

"I'm here with some of the people from the palace. We're on a 'mission' and we need a place to stay. Do you have room for us?" Elizabeth asked. The girl thought about it. For one second.

"Of course! After all you've done for me, how can I say no? And it's not like we don't have enough rooms. The only thing is, the servants all have the week off, so everyone is going to have to clean up after themselves."

"That's fine. Besides we're only staying the night." Elizabeth finally slid off of Cassie and the girl disappeared and the iron door started to open. All the warriors waited with bated breath, patiently waiting to get out of the weather.

A/N: Hey peeps! Sorry this took me so long. I wanted to make it longer, but if I didn't just finish this off it would have been forever. I know there are a few gaps in there, but please, just bear with me. Enjoy!


	11. Chapter 12

Weirdness

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, or places, that you recognize.

Thanks to all of my reviewers!

A/N. This is going to be a fun one! This goes out to my evil twin, and while her family may be made up (she has two sisters and loving parents), I am going to try and keep her personality as real as possible. Thanks and enjoy!

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As Elizabeth walked inside the castle, Cassie followed her inside. Everyone looked confused as to why a horse would just walk into a castle like that. Shouldn't she go into the stables or something? When Elizabeth realized that no one was following her she turned back around and motioned for them to come inside. Not knowing what to do everyone stayed on their horses and rode up the walkway and into the castle. Christine and Elizabeth were standing next to a large wooden door in the middle of the dark hallway. Christine spoke up once everyone was inside the hall.

"Hello everyone, I am Christine of Brambia, welcome to my home. The stables are through this door; everything is already set out so it is easy enough for you to take care of your horses. After your horses are taken care we will meet back here and I will show everyone around. Sound good? Good." She threw open the door and Cassie practically dragged Elizabeth into the stables.

As everyone followed Elizabeth, lots of mouths were dropping as they got a look inside. There really was a stable in the castle! This one had fifty stalls in it, twenty-five on each side, but there were only five horses in the stable at the moment. And all five were poking their heads out over the stall doors, looking on very interested in all the hoop-lah. They were all different; the first one was a Palmetto, a huge and pretty stallion. The second was a dainty little pinto mare. Her most distinguishing feature was a white stripe that went down from her right ear to the very tip of her muzzle. The horse directly across from the mare was a giant Clydesdale, gorgeous but comical in contrast to the little mare. The last two were down towards the end, and were making quite a lot of noise so they wouldn't be forgotten. One could have passed for Cassie's twin, which makes sense, because they really are twins. The last one was a gray pony, almost a pure white. If unicorns did exist, this gelding would have been one.

While the stable was fairly clean, it still had that musky old stable smell. Many people were surprised by the smell, because there was no hint of it outside the door. 'Must be some sort of spell.' Kel mused. All around her, people were placing their mounts in stalls and taking off their saddles. Kel walked Peachblossom down towards the end of the stable. Elizabeth was settling Cassie in the stall next to her twin. Kel decided to house Peachblossom across from Cassie. As Kel began unclipping Peachblossom's gear, she tried to strike up a conversion.

"It seems like she's pretty used to this place." Kel remarked, referring to Cassie. Elizabeth smiled.

"Yeah, the friends I was staying with happened to own a boat, and they would travel up here a lot. This is actually the place where I found Cassie."

"Really?" Kel asked, and indicated that Mary go on.

"Yup. I guess it was the second time I met Christine, and we hated each other. I believe she actually bit me. So we were sent outside to cool off and settle our differences. To make a very, very, long story short, we had gotten into a yelling match when we heard this weird noise, so we stop to investigate. We found these two, only a few days old, tied to a tree. Of course we untied them and took them back with us, and we've been friends ever since."

"Awww, that must be the cutest thing I have ever heard. I love stories like that." Kel cooed (in all seriousness of course).

"You do?" Elizabeth asked, surprised. "I would have thought that you hated that kind of stuff."

"Well, don't tell the guys," Kel winked, "but I actually do. I try to hide it though; because otherwise I'd be called 'girly.' And we can't have that now, can we?" Elizabeth shook her head. "All right, let's get going. I hope your friend has dinner for all of us. I am getting really hungry." The two made sure their horses were comfortable, then walked back to meet everyone in the hall.

Once everyone was gathered, Christine again stood in front. She tried to speak, but she couldn't be heard over the loud noise. So she raised two fingers to her mouth and let out a piercing whistle.

"Thank you. Alright, let's get started." Christine and Elizabeth started walking. Christine pointed down the hall to the servant's quarters, than up the stairs.

"Do you want to see your rooms now or later?" Christine asked as they past the stairs.

"Later." Raul told her.

"Okay." Christine shrugged. "Let's continue on then." The group passed by multiple rooms, all with different uses. One was filled with fur, all skinned and hunted by Christine's father. Another was filled with toys, of all kinds. Everyone kind of lingered by that room, nearly green with envy. Only Kel was the one who noted that nearly all the toys in that room were for boys. There was only one doll, and her hair was limp and tangled, her body bore many tears and she was missing one eye. 'Looks like boys play here, lots of boys.' She thought, walking away.

The group walked into a large lobby room, with another set of stairs going up on the opposite side. Across the hall they could see the dining room all set up for dinner. Many in the group smiled at the prospect of a good dinner. They began to cross over but stopped as Christine held up her hand.

"Oh no, their back." She said with a grimace, and then put her head in her hands.

"Who's back?" Neal asked.

"My brothers. All of them." She replied. At that moment, lots of feet were heard, pattering from upstairs. A wave of boys, from two to 10, flowed down the little stairs. Some even started to slide down the banister. Elizabeth and Christine rolled their eyes, then rushed foreword when the two year old attempted to slide down the banister. He scrambled his way on, then quickly lost his balance and fell, dragging another young one with him. The two girls ran to catch them. Christine just managed to catch the older toddler, while the younger one landed safe in Elizabeth's arms. He gave a giggle and a kiss, then pushed his way out of her embrace to chase his older brothers. Within seconds, they were gone, but the sound they made could still be heard.

"What in Mithros' name was that!?" Shouted one warrior. "Where did they even come from?" Christine looked bashful.

"They're my brothers. They were over in the town, terrorizing the locals. I had hoped that they would stay there until everyone was gone but… no such luck. So. . . . on to dinner!" Christine said, trying to distract them from her brothers. They all filed into the dining room. While the room was very grandiose, the smells of delicious food made the place much homier. Christine sat down in the seat usually reserved for the head of the household. Most of the men passed it off as to the fact that she was the oldest sibling there, but Kel noticed the habit with which she had placed herself. Sitting at the head of the table was no one time thing for Christine.

'Hmmmm.' Kel thought until she became distracted by the pots and pans coming from the kitchen. 'I'll investigate later.'

A/N: Okay, I know this took a really long time and I am really sorry. Blame my evil twin! She wouldn't edit it for the longest time! (he he, that's what u get Christine.)


	12. Agruments

Arguments

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, or places, that you recognize.

Thanks to all of my reviewers!

A/N. This is going to be a fun one! This goes out to my evil twin, and while her family may be made up (she has two sisters and loving parents), I am going to try and keep her personality as real as possible. Thanks and enjoy!

As a few of the older brothers placed several dishes in the center of the table, the younger ones ran in and grabbed all the empty seats. Christine scooped up the two youngest and sat them down in chairs by her seat. Elizabeth sat next to her, and they immediately started to whisper.

Not used to being served this way, all the guests could do was stare longingly at the food before them. Noticing the lack of movement, Christine stood up and announced, "Ah hem. Here we take however much food we need and then pass the plate to someone else. Please enjoy!" With that, her brothers tore in. Quickly catching onto the idea, soon everyone was heaping the colorful food on their plates. Meanwhile, Christine and Elizabeth went back to their all important conversation.

"No way are pirates cooler than ninjas. Come on, they're ninjas!" Christine exclaimed.

"But pirates do whatever they want to! They have freedom!" Elizabeth fired back.

"But ninjas can kill someone without making a sound!"

"Hey, at least pirates give a person some sort of warning. And they don't hide behind clothes. Nope, pirates are all about being out in the open."

"Aren't you being a little biased?"

"Well duh!"

"Now, I don't even understand why you to are arguing over something like this when both of the subjects are illegal and can be killed by the Crown." Raoul broke in. Both girls froze, looking at him wide eyed. "But if I had to give the question some serious merit, I'd have to say that pirates would get my vote." Christine slumped forward in her seat while Elizabeth sat up all smug. Depressed, Christine turned and started to fuss with her youngest brother. Playing around, the little boy picked up a handful of mashed potatoes and flung it in a general direction. Luckily, the potatoes didn't land on anyone's face, but instead went right into the plate of another brother. Flaming mad, the brother leapt up and grabbed the first food he could. Throwing back his right arm, he threatened to release several missiles of steamed carrots. Noticing the commotion just in time, Christine stood up and said in a very loud, very stern voice, "Michael! You put that down right now." He shook his head. Christine's eyebrow went up.

"You have a choice Michael. Make it in one, two …" Michael's arm wavered, and he still looked sorely tempted to let it fly, but slowly he let it drop down. After all the drama was over, everyone went back to their food in front of them.

After everyone was filled to the brim with delicious food, night began to set in. After motioning to the servants to clear the table, Christine stood up and started leading everyone towards the stairs. As they entered the main hallway, there was a rush of commotion as most of the boys split up into all different directions. Some ran to the play room everyone saw earlier, others ran up the stairs, and still others ran outside. All except for one. As the youngest member of the family wobbled by, Christine picked him up and carried him with her to the stairs. He started to cry and wiggle about, but Christine held onto to him, and admonished him gently.

"Now, unfortunately our space is limited, so there will have to be two people to each room. But the good news is that each person will get their own bed. So there are roughly forty of you, that means twenty to each hall…" Christine walked up the stairs mumbling to herself. Everyone trickled up after her.

It turned out that the group had to be split between the second floor and the third, with Elizabeth, Kel, and Christine in the last room.

"Welcome to my humble abode." Christine said, throwing her arms open wide as Kel and Elizabeth dumped their packs on the floor.

"Are you sure it's okay that I room with you two?" Kel asked. Christine nodded. "But where are we all going to sleep? There's only two beds."

"Oh, it's no problem." Elizabeth replied. "Christine and I can share, we're practically sisters anyway." Kel shrugged, then moved her stuff to the smaller bed. Then she turned back.

"So what do you guys do around here for fun? And is there anyplace I can get a workout?" Christine and Elizabeth smiled at each other.

"Oh you have no idea. Are you ready to have some fun?"

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Everyone at the long dinner table sat awkwardly in silence. Yuki and Shinko looked everywhere except at the woman sitting in the guest seat. No emotion showing on anyone, the scene was almost portraight worthy. But if someone examined each person carefully, they would be able to tell that three people had sweat on their brows. The remaining woman's eyebrows were slightly furrowed like she was trying to keep the anger off of her face. Carefully, Shinko reached out and picked up some seasoning for her plate.

"That's unhealthy for you." The opposite woman said tersely. Shinko put it back down, then stared longingly at the jar. Yuki tried to eat a roll from her plate, but was interrupted.

"You'll get fat. And then who would marry you?" The woman cackled to herself, leaving Yuki feeling empty.

And the silence went on.

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A/N: I'm back! And hopefully I will update more. I'm so sorry! I hope everyone enjoys this chapter. Next time I'll try to make it longer. Peace out! (Vote for Huckabee! If you can…)


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